Though I'm only a mediocre pilot, I find that the E management failures usually comes from the attacking pilot forgetting the
solid fact:
No matter how much difference in the Energy-Speed status varies between planes, ultimately,
ALL WWII planes can go only so far as 450~500 mph maximum. That is the ceiling, the roof top, the unbreakable barrier.
What this means:
* No matter how much more E advantage the attacker has, ultimately, his Energy-Speed exchange ratio
hits the limit after the attacking plane has reached 480~500mph. Any left over energy which can not possibly turned into more speed is just plain wasted in to nothingness(lost due to friction, turned into other sorts of energy which is impossible to utilize in a fight - like heat, sound, etc...).
* Using this fact, if the defender chooses to dive and gain speed, the attacker may follow. But the attacker's E status which transits into speed soon meets the limit, and
the defender's E status still may build up, since he was much lower in E status than the attacker. This means that the longer time it takes for the attacker to chase and catch up with the diving defender, the difference in Energy level between the attacker and the defender gradually disappears.
* The attacker meets his limit at 480~500 or so. and it stays there(or he sufferes the dire consequences of destroying the plane or losing control). But the defender still can build up his E. So, even though the distance is closing, the E advantage the attacker has,
contrary to what the numbers the icon may show, is actually disappearing.
* When the chase takes too long, at the moment where you overshoot the defender,
the E advantage may actually be reversed(!!).
Imagine a fight between a high Spitfire and a low P-51D. The Spit finds his prey low, and begins the dive. The 51 pilot finds this out, and tricks the attacker into follwoing him. He may act like he didn't notice, or do gentle moves which look tempting (looking pretty easy to follow).
The 51 pilot, as he monitors the Spit's position, begins a shallow dive, or a circling dive, to trick the attacking Spit pilot into thinking that the 51 didn't build up much E.
As the Spit closes in from behind, the 51 pilot notices that his speed is also passing 400 mph or so - this would mean the Spit is still faster than the 51, but only by little.. and as the Spit comes in shooting range, its speed would be by now near 500, but the defending P-51 is also near 500 now. Spit has already reached its limit(!).
When the Spit moves in to shoot, even the slightest, most gentle turn would casue him to black out. And the Spit overshoots helplessly. Now, the speed difference between the Spit and 51 is very little, the Spit has overshot the target,
PLUS the Spit begins to lose E faster than the 51 - the difference in the plane's maximum speed kicks in. The Spit tries to zoom out, but the 51 has already builded up enough E to follow the zoom. The Spit can continue up to the bitter end where he gets his rear end shattered by .50s, or pull off from the climb abruptly, while the 51 continues the zoom, changing the role of attacker and defender - this time 51 goes higher, and Spit is now low.
This imaginary fight between a P-51D and a Spit9 is actually what happens when a novice Boom/Zoomer attempts his attack. The beginning was good. But he should have pulled off when the P-51 started to dive.
This imaginary fight also emphasizes that the advantage of E should not be just simply determined by how higher you are, or whether you are closing in or not, but rather it should be judged by how fast you can hit the target plane before he builds up speed.
The possibility of reversal of E status(and, the reversal of the role of attacker/defender which follows it) is usually higher when a slow plane is the high attacker, and a fast plane the low defender. Meeting a Typhoon or Tempest lower than you isn't exactly my idea of an "easy fight"
